People stand on the rubble of a damaged building after an Israeli strike in the southern suburbs of Beirut, on March 6. (Credit: Reuters)
BEIRUT — Israel launched at least nine strikes on Beirut's southern suburbs on Friday, in addition to the 11 that occurred overnight.
The attacks were on the neighborhoods of Jamous, between Haret Hreik and Hadath, Burj al-Barajneh, Bir al-Abed and near the “Raya” stadium. One strike hit the surroundings of the Iranian Embassy in Lebanon.
Images of the suburb show widespread devastation as the new war between Hezbollah and Israel enters its fifth day.
In a message on X, the Arabic-language spokesman for the Israeli army, Avichay Adraee, claimed the attacks targeted “military infrastructure,” “headquarters” belonging to the party had been destroyed, including the “executive council headquarters” of Hezbollah and a drone warehouse.
South Lebanon
At around 11:15 a.m., an Israeli strike targeted an apartment in a Makassed Philanthropic Islamic Association building, a Sunni charitable organization, killing five people.
Makassed condemned the attack, saying the building “has no military or partisan facility.”
The neighborhood heard a “sudden and very violent” explosion, a local shopkeeper told L'Orient Today's correspondent in the South.
Another major Israeli strike hit a residential neighborhood near Sour's citadel, an archaeological site, injuring several people, Mukhtar Hassan Dbouk told L'Orient Today.
According to a Health Ministry report released late in the afternoon, Israeli attacks since dawn Monday killed at least 217 people and wounded 798 others. The toll is expected to rise.
Some victims have already been identified. An airstrike on Doueir (Nabatieh district) killed retired Lebanese Army officer Youssef Ramal, brother of journalist Daoud Ramal, and his wife Nidal Hoteit.
An Israeli strike killed several people in Qaaqaaiyet al-Jisr (Nabatieh), with the exact death toll unknown at the time of publication.
Bekaa
In the evening, an Israeli air strike on a house in Nabi Sheet killed at least three people from the same family and injured 17, according to the Health Ministry.
Israel then launched a second strike on members of Hezbollah’s Islamic Health Committee as they rushed to the site. Three children were pulled alive from the rubble.
The Israeli army also launched a violent strike on Boudai (Baalbeck), as well as a series of strikes on the heights of the Anti-Lebanon Mountains, along the Lebanese-Syrian border, L'Orient Today's Bekaa correspondent reported.
Fighting on the ground
Meanwhile, the Israeli army reported casualties. Eight soldiers were wounded Friday by gunfire in northern Israel near the Lebanese border, five of them seriously, according to the Israeli army’s international spokesman, Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani. The other three soldiers were lightly wounded in the same incident, he said.
Hezbollah said it carried out a “rocket salvo” at 8:45 a.m. targeting the Israeli settlement of Sasa, and an exploding drone attack at 10 a.m. on the Israeli army’s occupied Blat position in southern Lebanon.
On the ground, fierce clashes between Hezbollah fighters and the Israeli army were reported east of Khiam, involving machine guns and anti-tank rockets. Movements of Israeli vehicles east of the town were targeted by Hezbollah rockets, L'Orient Today's correspondent reported.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz claimed the Israeli army had reinforced its troops inside Lebanese territory and had “significantly expanded” its deployment to additional positions, according to comments reported in Israeli media. He said the army “will continue until Hezbollah is defeated, one way or another.”
A 'humanitarian catastrophe'
Israeli attacks and threats are causing large-scale displacement, particularly after a massive evacuation order for all of Beirut’s southern suburbs was issued the previous day.
Prime Minister Nawaf Salam warned of a “humanitarian catastrophe” in Lebanon due to the displacement of tens of thousands of people this week, during a speech to ambassadors.
The humanitarian crisis is affecting not only Lebanese citizens. About 50,000 Syrians have fled Lebanon to return home over the past week, according to the International Organization for Migration.
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